


your love is better than ice cream

by i_m_disappeared



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, I don't know if the ice cream or the fluff is more tooth-rotting, M/M, cornettos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 11:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30004341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_m_disappeared/pseuds/i_m_disappeared
Summary: Late-night snacks and soothing company.Happy birthday, Henry!
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 17
Kudos: 95





	your love is better than ice cream

**Author's Note:**

> So, two British gays talked about Cornettos yesterday and my heart went all whooosh, because Henry.  
> And then [Beth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmere/pseuds/cmere) convinced me (read: pressured me) to write a tiny Cornetto-fic for his birthday. And apparently I am obedient. 
> 
> All the love and thank yous go to [staystrange](https://archiveofourown.org/users/staystrange) and [take_me_out_baby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/take_me_out_baby/pseuds/take_me_out_baby) for beta reading on such a short notice and enduring all the fucked up capitalization! You are true angels <3 
> 
> Title is from "Ice Cream" by Sarah McLachlan (yes I googled "Ice Cream Songs" I am really just THAT creative)

There wasn’t really anything exciting to see on the little piece of lawn visible in the dark. However, this had not stopped Henry from staring out of the window for the last fifteen minutes.  
  
He was not surprised when two familiar arms were slung around his waist from behind. He had heard Alex entering the kitchen space of the quarters in Kensington that were still technically considered his own, although he had never felt as foreign inhabiting them as he did now. Henry had never belonged here, the difference was: now he knew what the alternative was like.  
  
Henry could recognize these footsteps everywhere by now, so there was no need to even turn around. Still, he quietly sighed in an odd feeling of relief when he felt his boyfriend’s embrace, instinctively leaning into it a bit more.  
  
“Trouble sleeping?” Alex murmured, nestling his face into the crook of Henry’s neck, his words muffled and still a bit cottony from just waking up.  
  
Henry didn’t think he needed to properly answer an obviously rhetorical question. “Sorry, did I wake you?”  
  
Alex responded by peppering featherlight kisses on his neck. “Don’t say sorry. You know I’m a light sleeper.” Henry hummed in agreement, reaching behind with one hand to carefully let his fingers roam through Alex’s smooth curls, immediately feeling a little less tense.  
  
Of course, he knew. They were both terrible with sleeping. But since they had started sleeping next to each other most of the time it had gotten much better. Now it was only difficult for Henry to get a good night’s rest when Alex wasn’t with him or when he was going through a period of intense stress. It wasn’t hard to guess which was the case at the moment.  
  
He just let himself be swept up in Alex for a moment, his guarding arms around him, his soft caresses, his whole beautiful presence. It was Alex who took a few steps back after a while, but only to make Henry turn around and immediately put his arms back where they belonged.  
  
Alex looked up at him and made their foreheads touch. “Happy birthday, baby,” he whispered. Henry smiled, having almost forgotten his own birthday had started a few hours ago. He leaned forward to catch Alex’s lips in a gentle kiss, their mouths moving effortlessly against each other. It was muscle memory at this point, their bodies so used to each other that it would be unnatural not to kiss.  
  
It was unhurried and tender and when Alex pulled away just a tiny bit and smiled at him, he could feel it more than he could see it. “Are we back on the insomnia Cornettos?” Alex asked, and the corners of Henry’s mouth jutted upwards without his assistance.  
  
Maybe don’t kiss your boyfriend if you want to hide the late-night snacks from him. “I have to seize the one advantage of being over here, don’t I?” Having easier access to his comfort foods was one of the few upsides of visiting Britain.  
  
Alex moved towards the close-by fridge and looked over his shoulder while opening the door and taking the opened box of ice cream cones out. “It’s so rude that you didn’t offer me one. Again.”  
  
Henry chuckled at the reference. He had suspected that they had been revisiting the exact same scene in their memories; only a few corridors from this room, only a few years in the past, and still it felt like an entirely different life. It was a life Henry didn’t care to revisit, but sometimes he couldn’t escape parts of it coming back.  
  
He watched Alex take out a Cornetto and then seemingly proceed to put the carton back into the freezer compartment. “Oi!” Henry made himself noticeable, his eyebrows raised in disapproval. Who was the rude one now?  
  
The grin on Alex’s lips made him fear for a second that Alex would make him suffer and not let him get his second fix of ice cream but the other man seemed to realize that he eventually just would have to give up his own cone in this scenario, so he took another one out before closing the door and bringing it back to Henry, who was now lightly leaning back against the windowsill.  
  
Alex placed himself next to Henry, mirroring his position and handing over one of the much longed-for treats. Silence took over for a moment, each of them indulging in the rich sweetness of the cold pleasure.  
  
“I shouldn’t have allowed this,” Alex stated firmly after a few minutes, not looking at Henry but examining the few bits of sugary brittle left on top of his cone.  
  
Henry stopped nibbling at the chocolate coated waffle and looked at him, slightly confused. “Allowed?”  
  
“Yes. It’s completely unnecessary to make you do this on your birthday. It could have been any other stupid day. I should have taken you to a spa retreat. Or the Bahamas, for fuck’s sake. Just something fun instead of this useless bullshit.”  
  
Alex’s sudden little outburst made Henry laugh softly, the tinge of bitterness impossible to miss. Escaping to the Bahamas sounded like the supreme birthday celebration. Hell, just staying in bed all day with Alex would have been more than he could have ever asked for.  
  
“And incur Gran’s and Philip’s wrath? No thank you.”  
  
Alex poked him in the side. “You underestimate me, Wales,” he shot back without any real bite to it.  
  
Henry cupped his cheek with the hand that was currently not holding an ice cream cone, locking eyes with him. “I wouldn’t dare”  
  
He knew Alex had just been joking, still Henry’s words were sincere; he suddenly needed to let Alex know that no matter what he did for him, it was more than enough. “You are here with me. That is all I could ever ask for. I don’t care for birthdays or stupid royal duties. I don’t care where we are and what we do. I’m fine as long as we’re together.”  
  
And although he had been feeling uneasy and restless since they had landed in London a few hours earlier, he knew each of his words was the crucial, indisputable truth. His truth.  
  
“Oh Henry,” Alex whispered, almost a bit shakily, before he leant forward and caught his lips in a deep, all-consuming kiss that could have had the power to turn Henry’s world upside down had it not been so grounded in the wonderful man in front of him.  
  
He tasted like vanilla and chocolate and just so distinctly Alex that Henry couldn’t imagine having his favourite ice cream ever again without a side of his alluring mouth.  
  
Time lost its meaning. Their location and his family and his duties, everything lost its meaning except for his indescribable boyfriend who was kissing him so ferociously, an unspoken promise of _forever_ on his tongue.   
  
Henry couldn’t care less for the slowly softening ice cream starting to melt onto his hand. He had decided to never stop kissing Alex ever again.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> Come and tell me in the comments how much you hate me now because I made you crave Cornettos because same!


End file.
